


The Memory of Man and Machine

by MarigoldGoat



Category: OC - Fandom, originalcharacter - Fandom
Genre: Enjoy!, first oc work, im super excited about it!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:40:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarigoldGoat/pseuds/MarigoldGoat
Summary: Part of a short story collection I'm writing.Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C5B0iEbSO0





	The Memory of Man and Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!! This is my longest story and my most beloved. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated!

Josey was pushed into the darkness by unknown hands. She tumbled to the ground, and found that the carpet reeked of mildew. She crawled around in the darkness, and found a wall to sit against. She looked around for anything to see, not knowing if her eyes were open or shut. Much to her dismay, there was not even a crack of light under where she thought the door was. Frightened, she wept.

“Hey, now,” Josey felt a three-fingered hand touch her shoulder, “What’s with the tears? Surely being off the streets is a relief to you. Are you having a moment again?”

The tears stopped flowing momentarily, and a brief, saddened smile crossed Josey’s face. 

“Fever! What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

“Never mind that,” Fever replied with a chuckle, “What matters is that we’re here now. Anyway, I got you something!”

In front of Josey’s eyes appeared a shining, steaming loaf of bread on the mildew-soaked carpet. It was only then that she realized how starved she was. Ignoring how much bacteria was probably seeping into the bread from the carpet, she grabbed it. It only fell from her hand like a fistful of sand, however. She no longer felt the hand on her shoulder, and realized that this really was another one of her moments. She reluctantly came back to reality.

Josey felt like she was in the dark room for days. With no sense of time she found herself counting aloud. Seconds, minutes, hours rolled by as thick as mud. That was until someone opened the door. She abruptly stopped counting, and let her eyes adjust to the sudden influx of harsh and blinding light. Two people stood in the doorway, most of their features obscured by the bright backlight. There was what looked to be a muscular man in either a very tight shirt or a tank top. He had hair that flared back behind his head like the wings of a bird. 

The other person seemed to lurk behind the man. It was easier to see him, because in the middle of his dark visor there was a bright red dot. He had a pompadour, and was wearing a leotard. If it were not for his face, he would have looked rather silly. His face was grim, with the red dot Josey assumed was his eye now focused on the man with the bird hair.

“What are you looking at, child?”

Josey was rattled out of her thoughts by the voice of the man with the bird hair. He had stepped into the room and turned on a light. His face was fully illuminated by an equally harsh light coming from inside the room. The voice was saccharin, and Josey immediately did not trust him.

Not that she trusted anybody anyway.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment Hawkins had stepped into the room he was impressed that the girl had managed to survive on her own this long. She could not have been older than 12. She had been staring off into space vaguely in his direction with scared and tired eyes. Yes, with enough food and sleep she’d be a wonderful soldier. The outside world had done most of the mind-breaking for him. For now, he must make sure that he is gentle-seeming.

“My name is General Hawkins. Do you know where you are?”

“No.”

“You’re in the base of the revolutionaries. Welcome to the Rabbit Force. What is your name?”

 

“Josey.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Josey,” Hawkins said as he nodded, “Are you hurt? We found you on the street.”

“I know,” Josey said, not bothering to respond to the question. “You kidnapped me.”

Hawkins was surprised that she had just come out and said it. That was certainly what he had tasked his guard to do. He began to backpedal.

“Well, I would hardly say that. You were homeless, and there’s no telling what the Lion Party would do to you out there. We saved you, if anything.”

Silence.

“You are aware of the political climate, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“Ah, well, let me explain.” He yelled at his guard, “33! Bring us a table and two chairs.”

33 went wordlessly to another room. A minute or so later, he came back with a foldable table, as well as two chairs. He set them up in the center of the still-dark room. He flicked on a lightswitch whose location was unknown, and returned to his post in the doorway. 

“Anyway,” Hawkins pulled up one of the chairs, and sat down with his legs crossed. “There’s a lot of… struggling out there. The Lion Party is the ruling group; They control the city. Long story short, they’re bad people, and they lead to a lot of cases like you.”

 

Josey cautiously stood up from her position on the ground and sat in the chair on the opposite end of the table.

“Cases like me? I haven’t ever seen anyone like me,” She said.

“Yes, there’s a lot of people like you.” For once, Hawkins wasn’t lying about the state of affairs outside the Rabbit Force base. The city really did have a homeless problem. However, the homeless usually were not this young. “What allowed you to survive this long? Where are your parents?”

Josey paused, as if deep in thought. Tears threatened to pour from her eyes. She shook her head. 

“I don’t remember where Mom is. I know how to live with my friend, that’s how I survive.”

This intrigued Hawkins. She had not been picked up with a ‘friend’. For once, without prompting, Josey continued the conversation. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused, but she was not crying.

“His name is Fever. He is my best friend. He isn’t always around. I like him.”

 

“Where would somebody find him? I could bring him here.”

“He was here earlier, when I was alone in the room. He brought me some bread. I couldn’t eat it. I’m hungry.”

“What does he look like?” Hawkins said, intrigued now more than ever.

“He looks like a shadow. You can see through his eyes and mouth. He’s very nice.” Josey was still completely zoned out.

It clicked. Hawkins stifled a laugh. Josey was severely mentally ill. He guessed at schizophrenia, but that did not matter. How easy this girl would be to control! His sugary smile faltered briefly into a more dangerous grin. He figured he would cut to the chase,

“Josey, look at me. You said you were hungry earlier. What if I said I could get you fresh meals every day? Fever could be there too.”

Josey snapped out of her dissociative state, and looked at Hawkins. Her eyes were wary.

“No thank you. I wanna go home. You kidnapped me.”

“We saved you, Josey. It would be safe here. You could help save the other people on the street. You would be a hero. The Rabbit Force needs someone like you. Someone with knowledge of the slums of the city.”

“What is a ‘slum’?”

“It’s where less… fortunate people live.”

“Oh, ok. I still want to go home.”

“Really?” Hawkins was surprised. It was obvious he was not going to be able to lure Josey into being a soldier. He changed gears into intimidation tactics. “Well, I think you would like it here. What would you do if I kept you here in this tiny room?”

Josey audibly gulped.  
“And what would you do if I forced you to be under my command? Would you cry out for Fever? You irrational freak. You’re already so far gone, what’s a little more pain going to do? So let me be very clear: you will work under me, and you will be fed, housed, and clothed here. I founded the Rabbit Force for the greater good, not for some schizoid to weep. Don’t sob about it, nobody will remember you. You’ll be gone in an instant one day and your pathetic life will be remembered by no one. You’ll just be another face in the crowd.”

Josey was crying at this point. She hyperventilated and covered her ears with her hands. Hawkins smirked all the while. He knew that emotional exhaustion was a great way to break somebody. He had to admit, Josey had not melted in his palm like he expected. However, now that she was panicking, the exhaustion would force her to put her guard down sooner or later. He had all day to watch her writhe in that chair, talking to what he assumed to be ‘Fever’. She was muttering now. She seemed to shrink in on herself into a tiny ball after a few minutes. Every once in a while he’d berate her for her tears to stoke the fire. Eventually, she tipped over the chair with her rocking, and splattered onto the ground, unmoving once she got there.

He would leave her alone until she awoke. He got up out of the chair, pushed it into the table, and made his way to the door. He found 33 standing in the threshold, the harsh light obscuring most of his features, but not his dot of an eye.

“Get out of my way, 33. We have other matters to attend to.”

33 did not move. His blue mechanical arms were crossed, and his legs were far enough apart to block the rest of the door from being entered by a human of Hawkin’s stature.

“I do not like the way you do things, sir. I am sure there are plenty of other people who want to join the rebellion without force. I was one of them.”

“Don’t speak to me that way, 33. Know your place and move!”  
“I do not think I can, sir. You have done this too many times for it to be for ‘the greater good’. You are also not the founder of the Rabbit Force.”

“I know, but she doesn’t,” Hawkins said as he motioned back to Josey. “Now move, or you will be heavily reprimanded!”

33 sighed as if to steady himself, and punched Hawkins in the gut.

Hawkins was not prepared for the punch. He vomited onto the mildew-scented carpet before reaching for his holstered gun. A second punch was thrown by 33. Hawkins bobbed his head to make the punch miss, and aimed his gun at 33. Time seemed to stop.

“Whatever happened to Asimov’s laws, 33? Robots like you aren’t supposed to kill humans.”

“You reprogrammed me with free thought and a ‘License to Kill’. I will use both to stop you from ever hurting another person.”

Hawkins fired at 33, who took two shots to the chest. 33 lunged at Hawkins without acknowledging the wounds, sending the gun flying into the air. It clattered to the ground. He bounced off of Hawkins and grabbed the gun. Now it was Hawkins who was facing down the barrel of a gun.

Hawkins saw 33 briefly glance over at Josey, who moved without him noticing during the fight. She was staring at the gun, her eyes wide and wild. She was muttering again. Hawkins was shaking and smiled in a crazed fashion.

“You’d really want to protect someone like that over me?”

He saw 33 pull the trigger.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josey screamed as the bullet passed through the head of her captor. Blood splattered onto the carpet, and General Hawkins was still. She saw the robotic looking man, who she assumed was named 33, look over at her. He dropped the gun, his eye unblinking.

“Hello. It is ok now. I am not here to hurt you. You have to trust me, or you will be caught again. See? I am not holding the gun. It is ok.”

Josey buried her face in her hands. Next thing she knew, 33 was beside her, a hand on her shoulder.

“Fever?” she said instinctively. 

“No. Fever is not here right now. Breathe.”

Josey breathed deeply. Again and again, she breathed the same way. She found herself calming down as much as she could for someone who just saw a murder. Come to think of it, she had not felt this calm in quite a while. After few minutes, 33 began speaking again.

“Are you ok? Good. We have to go soon. The rest of the Rabbit Force does not know Hawkins is dead yet. If we stay here until they find out, we will be dead as well.”

He took Josey by the hand. She stood up and steadied herself as best as she could. They walked through the threshold of the door, into the harsh light. They walked briskly towards an industrial looking exit sign.

Somebody shouted, and they broke into a sprint. 

They ran towards the door and away from the room where the murder of Hawkins transpired. 33 pushed open the door, let Josey through, and continued to run. They ran across a clearing, and into a desne grove of trees. Past a stream, a lake, the ruins of a town they ran. When Josey’s legs became too tired, 33 picked her up. 

They eventually stopped on a hill. The light of the city near the Rabbit Force base was dim now. 33 set Josey down onto the bristly grass, and then sat next to her. 

“Why didn’t we go back to the city?” Josey said after a few minutes.

“I cannot go back there. I am wanted in the city for defection, and I don’t want you to be left alone.”

A pause.

“33?”

“Yes?”

 

“I’ve decided that I don’t want to be remembered. I’m ok with being forgotten.”

33 chuckled. 

“Have you ever seen The Twilight Zone? It was an old show, you may not have heard of it. Anyway, there is an episode I have heard of in which an astronaut disappears. He is forgotten instantly by all but one person. That person looks everywhere for him. He does not stop until he disappears as well.”  
“Oh, that sounds sad.”

“I know, but please rest assured that I will never forget you. Should you die, I will keep your name alive in my thoughts and my voice. Your memory, and Fever’s memory, will be kept alive with mine. Now, I will find you something edible. Please stay here.

Josey liked the sound of that. For the first time in a while, she genuinely felt happy. Fever appeared, and smiled too, though 33 did not see.

“I am glad this is a better moment, Josey.”

“Me too.”


End file.
